Inadequate
by ashhead
Summary: Daine and Numair's son is about to lose everything.


Inadequate

Hot tears slithered down the boy's face as he tried to bite back anger and frustration. He knew full well these emotions would not help him, had experienced them too many times before, but still could not stop them from coming. Sometimes life just wasn't fair. A fact, not one he bothered to explain to himself, just one he accepted.

His eldest sister, the widely adored shapeshifter, so talented, building bridges between the immortals and Tortall in a way that not even his demi-goddess mother had imagined. Not that Veralidaine Sarrasri, still stubbornly clinging to the name that defined her as a bstard, a defence mechanism her son supposed, was by any means limited. She had saved Tortall on countless occasions, was a hero at least as much as his Da, the famous Numair Samalin, black robed mage. And as if one black robe wasn't enough in the family, his elder brother had recently acquired the rank, the youngest person ever to do so. Rikash was a pain, he was fun, but the devotion that normally marked talented mages did not consume him, instead his mind looked for further ways to occupy itself, even the most advanced pursuit of magic not being enough. He was continually getting himself into trouble, only his talent saving him, and he had acquired a penchant for the opposite sex that was becoming excessive. But of course, he could get away with it, he was the eldest son of the chief mage of Tortall and his Wildmage wife, with more ability with the gift than anyone who had ever been born.

But that was not what his tears had been over, he had cried enough to come to terms with those issues. No, this was about something much, much more personal than his issues with his family. This was about everything he was. The useless son of two of the most powerful people in the world. And in contrast to them, he was entirely powerless. They were going to take away the only thing in the world that meant anything to him, they were going to take Kitten away.

Kitten had long been his only friend. With parents away doing whatever it was they were doing when they left, Kit had stayed with him on a few occasions, and an initial fear of the young immortal had changed into the only friendship he possessed. Not that his parents were bad parents by any means. They raised him well, gave him everything he needed, but that wasn't all this was about. They had been torn between family life and duty to their kingdom, and too often kingdom had had to come first. And even when they were home, the two children who literally shone with their brilliance, or so he had been informed by his friends, were far more important than the little boy who sulked in the corner, untalented, and just generally uninteresting.

Kit however, didn't see him that way. She was a friend, someone who would play with him, someone who he could get annoyed about his parents with. Kit loved Daine and Numair, but she was younger than he in relative terms, and just as much prone to angry outbursts against them. Not that they communicated verbally, Kit was far too young for even the simplest mind speak, let alone actual verbal communication. And anyway, he wouldn't have been able to understand it. But they had an understanding, and could communicate perfectly well without any verbal skills.

And his parents, the parents that had ensured that he was odd enough to only be able to have Kit as his friend, were going to take her away. Apparently it had been deemed necessary for Kitten to return to the Divine Realms, to the home of the Dragons. No one had consulted him, not even Kit herself had let on. But apparently it was necessary. He didn't see how, but it had to do with the balance of power in the dragon realms, it was being upset, and Kit's family wanted "Skysong" back where she wouldn't be used as a pawn. Not that she would be, as he had tried desperately to explain to his parents, but they refused to discuss it, the decision had been made, and Kit had agreed to it.

So he was crying in an old attic, the one Kit had found him in several years ago, crying at the loss of his parents, who were leaving after just a few hours at home to see his brother. He half hoped Kit would come and find him, but then he knew he was being selfish. She had agreed to this, and he sensed that she wanted to go back. He really had no right to make such a fuss.

So he locked himself away, tormenting himself with either the vision of her coming to see him here and being angry, or with her leaving without saying goodbye. Either was enough to account for his tears, and no other vision than that was even considered. Kit would hate him either way, and he would be better off saving his tears.

_Any comments welcome, will update as soon as possible._


End file.
